On Thursday, self-driving truck company Kodiak Robotics, Inc. and Forward Air announced an agreement to operate “autonomous freight service 24 hours per day, six days per week (24/6) between Dallas and Atlanta, making three round trips weekly.”
Kodiak says that since August 2022, they have used autonomous truck technology to deliver more than 100 loads for Forward Air customers along the 800 mile freight lane between Dallas and Atlanta. Kodiak is making three trips per week to deliver freight in partnership with Forward Air.
The companies say that this makes them the “first” to operate consistent autonomous trucking services between Dallas and Atlanta.
Kodiak says that a safety driver team remains on board to oversee the self-driving operations.
Tom Schmitt, Chairman, President and CEO of Forward Air said, “To serve our customers, we always need to be on the forefront of exploring emerging technologies. Kodiak has earned an outstanding reputation in safe autonomous trucking, and this collaboration allows us to explore potential benefits to our business. While we don’t see autonomous trucks replacing independent contractor capacity, this could potentially be a scalable solution for certain lanes in our network.”
“We are proving out our business model by moving time-sensitive freight across thousands of miles and multiple hours of service through our collaboration with Forward,” said Don Burnette, Founder and CEO, Kodiak. “The tweener lane between Dallas and Atlanta is long and difficult to staff, so it perfectly illustrates how autonomous trucks can make the supply chain more efficient and resilient and supplement our customers’ human driven fleets. At the same time, we are showcasing the reliability and ruggedness of our autonomous system, which is able to operate for six days straight without needing rest or recalibration—a significant achievement.”
Kodiak has entered into similar partnerships with other companies, including IKEA, Werner Enterprises, U.S. Xpress, 10 Roads Express and CEVA Logistics.